I am going to start with an apology as the photos below are not the best. The forecast for Sunday, 2 August, was for fog so when I looked out of my front window on that morning and I could barely see down the road, I knew it was not a good day for photographing. I consoled myself that while the fog would make it difficult to photograph I could at least explore Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve to see if it was worth another visit again when the weather was better. Arriving at the reserve I could see the fog was still thick and the light was not penetrating well. I had to crank up my ISO and I knew I would already have grain in the photos because of the water droplets in the fog. The reserve was open country, which was one reason that I wanted to visit, a different type of terrain to where I usually go. I climbed up a hill to see if the fog would break higher up, no luck. I even launched my drone to see if it could break through the fog at its 120 m altitude limit and at least get a photo of the fog layer from above. Again, no luck. Because of the fog I concentrated more on still subjects that I could approach closely, such as the ever interesting dead trees that always have photo-worthy shapes. I did take some photos of birds but they were grainy, so I am not happy with the results. I was going to head out the following weekend but it was raining and overcast so not the best weather again for photography. Despite what I have said, I had an enjoyable visit and really wish to return when the weather is better. I hope you enjoy at least some of the shots below.
The holes in the bulbous still-living tree are like portholes looking at the fog
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1600, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/100 SEC])
I came upon this dead tree standing tall on a hill in the fog
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF40mm f2.8 STM [ISO 100, 40mm, f/8.0 and 1/50 SEC])
I used the drone to play around with angles
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 100, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/160 SEC]
I liked this straight, vertical shot the most because it was not clear what the object was unless you saw the photos above it
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 100, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/160 SEC]
Behind that dead tree was an interesting wood pile
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF40mm f2.8 STM [ISO 100, 40mm, f/8.0 and 1/30 SEC])
There was also this very colourful dead tree
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF40mm f2.8 STM [ISO 400, 40mm, f/8.0 and 1/50 SEC])
The final dead tree was this one with the clump of white flowers in front of it
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF40mm f2.8 STM [ISO 100, 40mm, f/8.0 and 1/40 SEC])
A pair of Australian Wood Ducks (Chenonetta jubata) were near a small pond. The female was in a tree and I could not see her well. The male flew, circling in, appeared to want to land on the dam but may have seen me so pulled up to land on a dead tree in the pond. He started a single note call and the female responded. He was generally facing away from me, only occasionally turning his head to look in my direction across the pond.
Australian Wood Duck male on a dead branch above a pond
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1600, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/250 SEC])
Two Willie Wagtails (Rhipidura leucophrys) were on top of the hill but they did not come together, keeping a distance and not seeming to interact. The one in the photo was on the southern side of the hill. It flew up to some tall plants among the rocks and then back to the trees on the southern fringe of the hill. As an aside, the extent of the fog is very clear in the photo below with the bird being about 15 metres from me.
Willie Wagtail on a plant in the heavy fog
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 800, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
When I was walking back to the exit, and resigning myself to some foggy pictures that day, a smalll bird darted across my path to land in the grass; it was a Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa). These are common birds but I had not seen one for a while. This one was by itslelf hopping through some grass looking for food. After a few minutes it flew back across the track to a tree on the opposite side of the trail from where it had been. In the tree it appeared to join with a group of Buff-rumped Thornbills, which is common for these small birds, and they all continued to move though the trees presumably looking for food.
Yellow-rumped Thornbill looking for food in the grass
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 800, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
This is one of the Buff-rumped Thornbills (Acanthiza reguloides) I referred to above. There were about four of them moving through a number of trees of different heights.
Buff-rumped Thornbill looking for food in a tree with the fog still around
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 800, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Later that day, back at home I went out with my macro lens. Initially when I photographed this Bristle fly, I thought I was just shooting a fly that was moving a bit slow because of the cold. However, the first two photographs were taken on that Sunday, 2 August and the bottom two photographs were taken on Saturday, 8 August, almost a week later. The fly had not moved yet, it was still holding on to the fly screen despite some windy days during the week. I have asked the Canberra Nature Map community if they can give me an explanation about what is going on. I am interested as to what the substance may be on its body, is it a fungus or just dust. When I photographed the fly the second time I took more care because it was still there after week, so I used a tripod to allow me to focus stack my images to get better detail across the whole fly.
Update: It does appear that this fly is dead and has a fungus on it. I will keep monitoring the fly to see what happens over the next few weeks. A similar case was reported on Canberra Nature Map in June this year with the same type of fly. The fly is actually a Muscid not a Bristle fly.
Bristle fly on a fly screen
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/125 SEC] with Yongnuo YN14EX Macro Ring Lite)
Detail of the back of the fly
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/125 SEC] with Yongnuo YN14EX Macro Ring Lite)
The same fly a week later but no apparent increase in ‘dust’ and still in exactly the same position and location
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/6.3 and 1/50 SEC] with Yongnuo YN14EX Macro Ring Lite, 5 shot focus-stacked)
Replicating the same second shot as a week before
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/6.3 and 1/20 SEC] with Yongnuo YN14EX Macro Ring Lite, 13 shot focus-stacked)